What are wayfinding signs? To put it briefly, they are essential signage installed inside or outside to help people find their way around.
Effective navigation is a precursor to people using and enjoying any environment, and wayfinding signs are one of the main tools businesses use to facilitate that.
Learn more about what are wayfinding signs below, along with examples of different shapes and sizes, and some frequently asked questions:
If you’re looking to install some wayfinding signs of your own, contact the pros at AGC Signs. We have years of experience, an extensive gallery showing off all the different brands and projects we’ve worked on, and we have all the tools and materials needed to build you the premium signs that will work for you.
What Are Wayfinding Signs?
Overview
Some styles of wayfinding sign can be updated as the information changes.
Description
Wayfinding signs are for navigation. They are informational signs installed in convenient places that show people where to find locations, objects, or people in an area.
Wayfinding signs are defined by their purpose, not their shape or material. Because of this, they can come in many different shapes, sizes, and materials, as you’ll see throughout this article.
This means that a wayfinding sign could take the form of a pylon sign, a standard wall-mounted interior sign, or even a graphic printed directly on the wall.
As far as materials go, many outdoor wayfinding signs are either concrete, plastic, or metal.
They can also be made of wood, which is a great choice if they’re located in a park or green space as wood blends in nicely with natural surroundings. Many regional parks actually use a combination of plastic and wood framing for this reason.
This sign complements the room code with braille for added accessibility.
Application
Most commonly, wayfinding signs are used to help visitors to an area find their way around. For example, an office building would have signs explaining who works at each office number, or a large park would have signs explaining what direction to go to get to different trails, and how long it may take you to get there.
Any location, business, park, office, or facility that is larger than a small room will likely need multiple wayfinding signs. The more locations or people in a location, the more important it is to have obvious, clear wayfinding signs.
If you’re unsure of how many signs your particular building ought to have, consider things like the size of the building, the use of the building, and whether it needs to accommodate any special services.
Examples
As mentioned above, wayfinding signs come in all shapes and sizes. Therefore there is not a single style solution to the question “What are wayfinding signs?”
Below are a variety of different examples of signs in many shapes and colours, each built for a different environment:
If you look for them, you’ll notice that official government buildings and parks almost always have an excellent set of wayfinding signs throughout their properties. They know that they exist to serve the public, and the public needs to be able to navigate their facilities for their service to be helpful.
If you need ideas on how or where to place wayfinding signs in the office of your business, try touring a government office to get a sense of how they do it.
The other thing to note in the pictures above is the importance of contrast. Contrast comes in the form of different coloured paints or materials that make it easier to read the iconography or text on a sign. White text on a dark-coloured background is the best way to make your sign highly visible.
Icons and visual clues are a great way to help observers easily recognize the message of a sign. For example, like in the examples above, those blocky human stick figures are almost always used to represent restrooms.
Some other common wayfinding iconography includes:
A capital letter “P” represents parking.
A lowercase letter “i” represents an information centre or reception area.
A coffee cup represents the location of a cafe.
A front-facing perspective of a bus represents a public transit area.
Arrows pointing in different directions helps to orient readers on where they ought to walk.
Making use of icons that people are already familiar with helps ensure your wayfinding signs are as useful as possible.
When it comes to common locations like exits, restrooms, or directional arrows, don’t reinvent the wheel: using the same symbols as everyone else will make navigating your location as easy as possible.
Remember, when it comes down to it, wayfinding signs are not meant to be flashy and exciting, they’re simply meant to guide and inform people.
FAQ
These are some other common questions buyers often have about wayfinding signs in general:
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If the wayfinding sign you’re planning on installing is temporary, you may be able to install it yourself.
Otherwise, most wayfinding signs are large, heavy, permanent objects that will need to be built on a hefty foundation.
Specialized equipment will be required, and the best thing to do is to work with a professional signage company to have them complete the installation for you.
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Signs need to be regularly maintained if you want them to last a long time.
For most signs, your standard approach should be to wash them by hand using a soft cloth, warm water and non-reactive soap, or with a cleaner specifically designed for the material of the sign (e.g. aluminum, acrylic, etc.).
Some beefy signs like pylon or monument signs can be power washed. Conversely, materials such as wood need special care to avoid mould or decay.
If in doubt, contact the business who originally installed the sign for you and ask them what their recommended best practice would be.
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Yes, it’s very important to consider the location of your wayfinding signs so that they’ll be the most useful.
Wayfinding signs should be placed in high-traffic areas and intersections of foot traffic and should be repeated throughout the area.
Remember, not only do people need to find their way around your property, they also need to find their way back and out again.
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Most wayfinding signs do not have any moving parts, meaning they can’t usually be adjusted. These signs are meant to last a long time, and moving parts are often the first parts of signs that break down from wear and tear.
However, as you can see in many of the examples above, most wayfinding signs have slats or are composed of different small tiles, which can be swapped out and replaced if the information on them ever becomes outdated.
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When looking for a reputable sign company to install wayfinding signs, do research to determine if they have a good track record, and then consider their other services to see if they offer what you need.
For a given sign business, we recommend reading their reviews on Google, checking their website to browse their gallery of past projects, and contacting them directly to learn about what you ought to expect in terms of timeline and cost.
Remember to use recognizable icons for your wayfinding signs.
AGC SIGNS - Signs That Make a difference
If you want to have the peace of mind that comes from working with an experienced company with extensive experience and a proven track record, AGC is the sign company for you.
Whether you’re asking “What are wayfinding signs?” or you have any other questions about the purpose or installation of signs of any scale, we can answer your questions, give you advice on the next step to take, and even offer a free quote.
To start planning your next signage project, contact AGC Signs today!
AGC Signs
Address: 860 Brock Rd #8,
Pickering, ON L1W 3X3
Phone: (905) 492-2484
Email: info@agcsigns.com
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